Spring-seat



(No Model.)

H. S. HALE.

SPRING SEAT.

No. 371,448. Patented Oct. 11, 1887.

UNTTnn `STATES PATENT @Tirreno HENRY S. HALE, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.r

SPRING-SEAT.

SPECIFICATION iorming part of Letters Patent No. 371,448, dated October 11,1887.

Application filed May 14, 1887. Serial No. 238,2lh (No'luo '.el.)

To @ZZ whom, it may concern.

Be it known that l, HENRY S. HALE, of the city and county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in SpringSeats, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to spring-seats, &c.; and it consists in certain improvements, allot' which are fully set forth in the following specification, and shown in the accompanying drawings, which form part thereof.

Heretofore, in the manufacture of springseats and similar articles, it has been customary to secure to the top of the springs short narrow metallic connecting-bars, upon which flexible wooden slats, usually combined with textile bands, were secured, the metallic bar acting as a connection between the springs and also as a support for the flexible wooden or compound slats, as set out iu my Patents Nos. 259,533 and 256,676, o't' 1882. This construetion is expensive and unsatisfactory, and lacks durability and simplicity.

The object of my present invention is to overcome the above objections by providing the tops of the springs-with a wide thin flexible metal plate capable of bending readily nnder the pressure of the person occupying the seat. The wide flexible plates are preferably covered with still wider bands of textile material,which extend over the lateral edges, and also project over the ends sufficiently' to be secured to the box-frame, these bands thereby protecting the edges of the spring-plate. The spring-seat or other frame made up of a number ot' such elements is covered with a sheet of fabric which rests upon the textile bands and is thereby protected from being cut by the metal plates, and upon this sheet the upholstering is placed. This construction of spring-frame may be used with or without the edge springs, but when the latter are used I have a spring-edge seat of very superior construction. The invention is equally applicable to lounges, chairs, beds, &c.

In the drawings, Figure l is a cross-section through a carseat, on line y y of Fig. 5, elnbodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a crosssection of part of same on line x Fig. 3 is a perspective View of one of the spring elements removed. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of one of the steel plates removed, and Fig. 5 is a plan plates D and bands E.

view of the springseat with the upholstering removed.

A is the box or rectangular frame to which are secured the parallel wooden erossbars B. Upon each of these cross-bars are springs C. Secured to the top of these springs ou each bar is a wide flexible plate, D, of thin steel,

the same being capable of bending in all conceivable manners tosuit the pressure gut upon it. The extreme ends of these plates may be curved down, as at d, to prevent possibility ofeutting the bands above the plate. Ar-

ranged above these plates D are textile bands E, in length made much longer than the plates D, and in width slightly widerthan said plates, so that these bands may extend slightly over the lateral edges of said steel plates to prevent them from cutting the sheet of textile ninterial placed above them. The tops of the springs C, the plates D, and the bands E are preferably secured together by rivets F, as shown. rlhe wide bands of steel form good positive supports,combined with every degree of ilexibility,and embody cheapness'and durability. If the seat is not to have spring-edges the ends of the hands c are secured to the h'ox or rectangular frame. A large sheet of textile mztterial,K,is then spread over thc bands and spring-plates and united by its edges to the rectangular frame, and the upholstery L is placed upon said sheet.

If desired, the flat steel plates D may be corrugated, as at d', transversely to their length, so as to strengthen them laterally and enable the use of extremely thin plates of steel, which is advantageous as to operativeness as well as to cheapness.

y "When the seat is to be provided with springedges, I place upon the front and back portions of the box or rectangular frame A a scf ries of springs, I, and to these I secure longitudinal plates of steel, G, and bands H, of widths substantially the same as in the ease of These longitudinal plates G and bands H are secured in any suitable manner (riveting, as at h, being preferred) to the transverse plates l), as shown in Figs. 1 and 5, and the free ends e of the bands E are brought over and secured to the box or reetangular frame, as indicated in Fig. 1, and the upholstering is put on as before described.

The strength of a spring-seat of this Coustruction isvery great, and yet its elasticity is all that could be desired, and the durability is self-evident. There are no glued slats or complications to produce obj ectionable effects, and the cost of manufacture is greatly reduced over that required to produce a car-seat having the same characteristics when employing the old constructions.

The element shown in Fig. 3 is a complete spring element, and may be made and sold as an article ot" manufacture.- Other manufacturers may use t-hese elements to -make up seats of any desired lengths required. In place of bars B the springs may rest ou cross textile bands.

The essential feature ofthe invention is the wide thin tiexible metal plates (preferably steel) supported on springs. The coveringbands of textile material may be made of any width, but preferably still wider,'so that the 'lateral edges of thebands will project slightly over the lateral edges of the steel plates to protect the edges thereof against cutting the sheet of textile material placed above the last-mentioned bands and 'designed to support the upholstering. The bands above the plates are also made long to cover the ends of the plates as well as their corners, forminga complete shield, and yet not interfering with the ilexibility of the seat.y It' desired, t-he upholstery may rest directly upon the wide metal plates.

I do not limit myself to thel exact details, as they may be moditied without departing from my invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A seat consisting of the combination of a box or equivalent frame having cross-bars at the bottom, springs supported upon said crossbars, wide thin'tlexible plates of metal covering a large area of the seat and directlysupporting the upholstery and secured to the upper part of the springs on each crossbar, and wider bands of textile material secured above said steel plates and having their lateral edges extending over the lateral edges of the steel plates and having their ends pulled down and secured to the box-frame, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. A seat consisting of the combination, of abox or equivalent frame having cross-bars at the bottom, springs supported upon said cross-bars, wide thin iiexible plates of steel covering a large area ofthe seat and directly supporting the upholstery and having their ends curved downward and secured to the upper part of the springs'on each cross-bar, and wider bands of textile material secured to said steel plates and having their lateral edges extending over the lateral edges of the steel plates and having their ends pulled down and secured to the box frame, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. A seat consisting of the combination of a box or equivalent frame having cross-bars at the bottom, springs supported upon said crossbarsfwide Ithin iexible plates of steel covering a large area of the seatand directly supporting the upholstery and secured to the upper part of the springs on each cross-bar, wide bands of textile material secured to sa'id steel plates, extending over their lateralV edges, and having their ends'pulled down and secured to the box-frame, a large sheet of textile webbing supported upon a series of said supporting plates and bands and secured'to the box-frame, and upholstering upon said sheet of webbing.

4. A complete spring element for aspringseat, consisting of a wooden cross-bar, two or more springs secured thereto, a wide flexible steel plate covering a large area ot' the seat and directly supporting the upholstery and secured to the top of said springs, and a still wider band of textile material secured to said wide plate of steel, extending slightly o-ver the lateral edges of the same and for a considerable distance over the ends thereof', substantially as and for the purposespecitied.

5. A spring-seat consisting of the combination of a box or rectangular` frame, a series of cross-bars secured thereto, a series ot' springs on each cross-bar, a series of transverse wide flexible steel plates covering a large area of the seat and directly supporting the upholstery and arranged one above each of said bars and secured to the springs thereof, a selar longitudinal Wide flexible metal plates arranged'above each of said last-mentioned sets of springs and u nited to the ends ot' the )first-V ries of lsprings secured to the front 'and rear portions of the box or rectangular frame,simi. roo l gitudin'al steel plates, and transverse wide bands of textile material secured to the firstmentioned 0r transverse steel plates, extending over 'their lateral edges,'and projecting over the longitudinal plates and united to the box or rectangular frame, and upholstering having a lower sheet layer resting upon the textile bands, substantially as and forthe purpose specified.

6. In a spring-seat, the combination of the frame, springs supported by the frame, a wide thin steel plate covering a large area of the seat and directly supporting the upholstery and secured to the springs at their upper parts and having transverse corrugations, and

textile bands extending over said corrugated steel plate and secured on its ends to frame of the seat, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

7. In a seat, the combination of the seatframe, cross-bars secured thereon,springs supported by said crossbars,wide, thin,and iexible metal plates covering a large area of the seat 'and directly supporting the upholstery and supported by said springs, and the upholstery supported upon said wide metal plates and secured to the seat-frame.

8. The combination of aseries of coil-springs with a wide thin iiexble metallic plate covering alarge area of the Seat and directly supl In testimony of which invention I hereunto porting the upholstery and secured to the tops of said springs, the said parts being adapted to fit between the support on the bottom of 5 the seat, and the upholstering on top, the Witnesses:

Wide plate offering an extended surface for R. M. HUNTER,

support of said upholstering. i

set my hand.

HENRY S. HALE.

J. WARREN HALE. 

